Philippe Petit crossing the Twin Towers in 1974, photo credit unknown (if you know who took the photo, tell me) This is also a photo of what it feels like to be a game developer.
There are many reasons why an upcoming game could fail or at least be hurt, but some insidious killers aren't often argued, why is why I made this list. This might help you decide what games to lower expectations for or help you decide what Kickstarters to avoid funding. Likewise, any game dev.s reading this ought to give it a consideration.
1. TIMELY PRODUCTION
I love the phrase, "Away with the clocks; I know," meaning, "Don't let time rule your life." Since the time of sundials, business people rush to get things done on time.
Maybe investors expect it from them, maybe the fans expect it from them. Maybe the game developers believe that getting their game made in time increments helps to keep things orderly. Humans worship the clock on the wall, from the time they rise, to asleep they fall.
But what is so bad about meeting deadlines and working around set hours? Something is only as good as its weakest part, and adjusting your schedule around time creates weak points. High level craftsmanship takes however long it needs; if you set a timer on creation, you trade away quality. Furthermore, the creation process requires no distractions; if you know you leave work in an hour, you might loss motivation or leave on a bad stopping point out of necessity. Sometimes we need to walk away from a creation to think about it, and sometimes we need to keep working till something is complete enough, so away with the clocks. If a game developer says, "We are working on getting concept art out as fast as we can," then that should raise a big red flag for you. Any game with a release date a long time in advance is making a mistake.
2. SEEING IDEAS SIMPLE AND LITERAL
People often don't know what they want, but what they say is never far from what they really mean. Imagine two people interpreting a sentence of an ancient language two slightly different ways. One person looks at the literal meaning of each individual word, but the other person thinks deeply about what is meant by the sentence. Now stop and imagine someone told a game developer to put more enemies in one part of their game.
What that developer should then do is ask him or herself, why does this person think that would improve the game and what does that person see as the issue? If the developer gives an easy yes or no on the spot, they clear have a deeper problem; those who don't think hard and deeply about the little decisions will not think outside the box enough.
3. THINKING SUCCESS IS TIED TO BUDGET
A budget is not an indicator of success; an outstanding, large game can be made with a budget of nothing. At the end of the day, execution is everything, not the road it took to get there. It is true that Kickstarters are more likely to be funded if they have an asking price higher than 9,000 dollars and lower than 200,000 (source), but if the game is the same quality on release as it would be with a smaller budget, the same amount of people will buy it (more or less). Of course, going the route of having no budget is not always wise, partially because people have a bias against low-budget games, but more importantly, it means you lose access to programs and assets that cost money, which is something that won't ever be a positive difference. The more you have at your disposal the better.
4. A FOCUS ON FUN
Like I have said before, a game needs to be much more than simply "fun" to succeed today, yesterday, or tomorrow. There are millions of games out there; don't you think most of them are fun? If so, a game that is fun will not get someone to play it, because a game needs more than that to be seen. If a game is well made, it will be fun automatically. I am not saying games need gimmicks (like Skull Monkey's mediocre gameplay hiding behind lovely claymation, or Sticker Star and its odd focus on stickers and paper), but they do need something to make the right people see it in a crowd of other games. Do you ever buy a game simply because it looks fun? No, it had something that made you want to play it more than other games.
I'll say it again, there are millions of other games competing with yours.
5. PERSPECTIVE (PARANOIA, PRIDE, AND SHAME)
The maker's perspective gets reflected in the game. If a person makes a game based on fear, their game will reflect it; while they were fearing one aspect wouldn't be good enough, they might have neglected the rest of the game slightly. If a person takes too much pride in their work, they will fail to see the minor flaws in the details that add up to ruin a game. Lastly if a game is made by someone who doesn't believe in their vision, it might take longer to make, and will have an overly humble size and ambition. A game needs to be made with a calm and balanced mind.
When making our game, Paper Soul Theater, my team follows these guidelines.
So Tell Us: Do you disagree with anything on this list, why?
There are many reasons why an upcoming game could fail or at least be hurt, but some insidious killers aren't often argued, why is why I made this list. This might help you decide what games to lower expectations for or help you decide what Kickstarters to avoid funding. Likewise, any game dev.s reading this ought to give it a consideration.
1. TIMELY PRODUCTION
I love the phrase, "Away with the clocks; I know," meaning, "Don't let time rule your life." Since the time of sundials, business people rush to get things done on time.
Maybe investors expect it from them, maybe the fans expect it from them. Maybe the game developers believe that getting their game made in time increments helps to keep things orderly. Humans worship the clock on the wall, from the time they rise, to asleep they fall.
But what is so bad about meeting deadlines and working around set hours? Something is only as good as its weakest part, and adjusting your schedule around time creates weak points. High level craftsmanship takes however long it needs; if you set a timer on creation, you trade away quality. Furthermore, the creation process requires no distractions; if you know you leave work in an hour, you might loss motivation or leave on a bad stopping point out of necessity. Sometimes we need to walk away from a creation to think about it, and sometimes we need to keep working till something is complete enough, so away with the clocks. If a game developer says, "We are working on getting concept art out as fast as we can," then that should raise a big red flag for you. Any game with a release date a long time in advance is making a mistake.
2. SEEING IDEAS SIMPLE AND LITERAL
People often don't know what they want, but what they say is never far from what they really mean. Imagine two people interpreting a sentence of an ancient language two slightly different ways. One person looks at the literal meaning of each individual word, but the other person thinks deeply about what is meant by the sentence. Now stop and imagine someone told a game developer to put more enemies in one part of their game.
What that developer should then do is ask him or herself, why does this person think that would improve the game and what does that person see as the issue? If the developer gives an easy yes or no on the spot, they clear have a deeper problem; those who don't think hard and deeply about the little decisions will not think outside the box enough.
3. THINKING SUCCESS IS TIED TO BUDGET
A budget is not an indicator of success; an outstanding, large game can be made with a budget of nothing. At the end of the day, execution is everything, not the road it took to get there. It is true that Kickstarters are more likely to be funded if they have an asking price higher than 9,000 dollars and lower than 200,000 (source), but if the game is the same quality on release as it would be with a smaller budget, the same amount of people will buy it (more or less). Of course, going the route of having no budget is not always wise, partially because people have a bias against low-budget games, but more importantly, it means you lose access to programs and assets that cost money, which is something that won't ever be a positive difference. The more you have at your disposal the better.
4. A FOCUS ON FUN
Like I have said before, a game needs to be much more than simply "fun" to succeed today, yesterday, or tomorrow. There are millions of games out there; don't you think most of them are fun? If so, a game that is fun will not get someone to play it, because a game needs more than that to be seen. If a game is well made, it will be fun automatically. I am not saying games need gimmicks (like Skull Monkey's mediocre gameplay hiding behind lovely claymation, or Sticker Star and its odd focus on stickers and paper), but they do need something to make the right people see it in a crowd of other games. Do you ever buy a game simply because it looks fun? No, it had something that made you want to play it more than other games.
I'll say it again, there are millions of other games competing with yours.
5. PERSPECTIVE (PARANOIA, PRIDE, AND SHAME)
The maker's perspective gets reflected in the game. If a person makes a game based on fear, their game will reflect it; while they were fearing one aspect wouldn't be good enough, they might have neglected the rest of the game slightly. If a person takes too much pride in their work, they will fail to see the minor flaws in the details that add up to ruin a game. Lastly if a game is made by someone who doesn't believe in their vision, it might take longer to make, and will have an overly humble size and ambition. A game needs to be made with a calm and balanced mind.
When making our game, Paper Soul Theater, my team follows these guidelines.
So Tell Us: Do you disagree with anything on this list, why?